Change: July 24, 2015

TODAY’S WORD FOR FRIDAY JULY 24, 2015.

CHANGE

DEFINITION:

To make different in form; to transform; to make a difference in the state or conditions of a thing.

SCRIPTURE:

For I am Lord, I do not change. Malachi 3:6.

Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today and forever. Hebrews 13:8

KNOWLEDGE AND EXPERIENCE:

When we think of change two very important items come to our minds as believers in Jesus. First, God has given us a plan for salvation when He sent Jesus to the cross to die for our sins. This plan has never changed nor has His promise to give us eternal life if we acknowledge that we are sinners and accept Jesus as our Savior then we will have eternal life.

Secondly, God, who is all wise, all knowing and without sin never changes His mind nor withdraws His promises. He gave Moses the Ten Commandments and they are still valid today -- every word. There never was a promise that God has given that He has not honored.

The apostle Paul tells us that when we come to Christ we become a new creature. A change comes upon us. The old person is gone and a new person arrives (II Corinthians 5:17). Paul’s life is evidence that this is true. He was completely changed when he met Jesus on the road to Damascus, as the scripture tells us. His old life was persecuting Christians and his new life, the life that was changed because of his encounter with Jesus, was preaching the gospel and being persecuted himself because of his faith in Jesus.

We challenge you today to make two changes in your life if you have not already done it. First, accept Jesus as your Savior and have your old life changed to a new life in Christ.

Secondly, memorize the Ten Commandments and live by them daily. If you do this your life will change.

We have thought of a few other items that maybe you need to change in your life.

• Being preoccupied by your occupation and activities to the exclusion of meeting the needs of your family.

• Your refusal to face the severity of a child’s action. You just do not want to face a situation because you are too tired or too busy. Watch out because this situation will soon be a major problem to you and your family.

• Your refusal to respond quickly and thoroughly to the warning of others to a situation you cannot see.

• Rationalizing a wrong, therefore becoming part of the problem.

These are all situations that require change.

LEARNING:

Our memory verse for this week is found in II Timothy 1:7.

For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind.

PRAYER:

Open my heart today to allow You to change me to what You want me to be. Help me to want to spend more time with You and doing the things that will glorify Your name. Give me wisdom in my decisions.

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Calamity: July 23, 2015

TODAY’S WORD FOR THURSDAY JULY 23, 2015.

CALAMITY

DEFINITION:

A great misfortune or cause of distress; disaster.

SCRIPTURE:

For the day of their calamity is at hand, and the things to come hasten upon them. Deuteronomy 32:35.

Therefore his calamity shall come suddenly; suddenly he shall become broken without remedy. Proverbs 6:15.

KNOWLEDGE AND EXPERIENCE:

When we think of the word calamity we think more of the word misfortune compared to disaster. Life is full of calamities for many families today. A broken arm, a good case of the measles, not passing a test in school plus so much more.

For the most part we bring calamities on to ourselves. The psalmist writes in Proverbs 1:26-27, I will laugh at your calamity; I will mock when a calamity overtakes you. This sounds like a heartless reaction but really it is not, because we have no one to blame but ourselves.

Solomon tells us in Proverbs 1: 24-25 that the reason why calamities overtake us is because we have rejected God, His wisdom and His advice. In this chapter of Proverbs the theme is wisdom and Solomon is saying that when we reject God and a calamity comes our way because of divine judgement and we call on God after the fact, He will not answer; we will seek Him diligently and will not find Him.

In Proverbs 1:29 God gives us the reason. It is because we have made the choice not to fear Him. God always gives us plenty of time to accept Him as our Savior.

God is not the author or cause of calamities, but He will let us experience calamities because of our pride and arrogant ways, especially when we turn our backs to God and reject Him. When we put our trust in God and listen to Him, He will lead us away from calamity. He wants to protect us from calamities because of His love for us. In Proverbs 1:33 it reads that whoever listens to Me will live in safety and be at ease without fear of harm.

Take a moment and relate this thought to the life of a parent. Once a calamity comes to a child it is too late to call upon the parent and ask for it to be changed. It is the same in our walk with God as His child. It is too late once a calamity hits our lives to ask God to change it but never too late to turn back to God and ask His forgiveness and for His help to get us through the calamity.

Yes. In real life we all have calamities which are normal events that happen because of circumstances. Today in this WORD we are concerned about the calamities that result from not having the proper relationship with God which requires obedience to Him.

The verse we have written above from Deuteronomy was spoken by Moses to the Israelites just before he died and turned his leadership over to Joshua. The first generation of Israelites had been rebellious against God and many times did not listen to God. The result was that they suffered many calamities including not getting into the Promised Land.

God, who is all knowing, knew that the second generation of Israelites would also forsake Him when they settled in the Promise Land, so He told Moses to warn them that if they did forsake Him many disasters (calamities) would come their way (Deuteronomy 31:17). Israel did forsake God and their day of calamity came. Israel became divided into two kingdoms, Israel and Judah. Israel was then destroyed by Assyria and Judah by the Babylonians and the people were taken into exile. Whenever we disobey God and reject Him we can expect our day of calamity.

LEARNING:

Our memory verse for this week is found in II Timothy 1:7.

For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind.

PRAYER:

Thank You Lord for keeping my eyes and heart focused on You. Keep me from being a spiritual calamity. Bless my family and help us together to be shining lights for You in a world filled with calamities.

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Brag: July 22, 2015

TODAY’S WORD FOR WEDNESDAY JULY 22, 2015.

BRAG

DEFINITION:

To declare boastfully; to speak with excessive pride.

SCRIPTURE:

His brothers said to him (Joseph), do you intend to reign over us? Will you actually rule us? And the hated him all the more because of his dream and what he said. Genesis 37:8.

KNOWLEDGE AND EXPERIENCE:

Two days ago we shared some thoughts on the word BOASTFUL. Today our word is BRAG. There meanings are close but we have several thoughts that we feel are important for us to share.

We look today at the life of Joseph who was the favorite son of his father, Jacob. There is no doubt that God used Joseph during his lifetime but as a young man Joseph had his problems with his 12 brothers.

We are told about the dreams that Joseph had. First, he had the dream where he and his brothers were binding sheaves and his brothers sheaves bowed down to his sheaf. Apparently Joseph had to do a little bragging so he told his brothers about the dream and it did not go well with them. They were outraged and asked him who he thought he was that he should reign over them.

Joseph had a second dream in which the sun, moon and stars all bowed down to him. Joseph shared this dream with his father. And then his father was angry with Joseph for being disrespectful as to think that not only his brothers would bow down to him but also his mother and father. Although what Joseph said was truthful Joseph’s family saw it as bragging.

Joseph was a young man and perhaps no different than most young children who do like to brag. We all know that these dreams were a forerunner to how God would use Joseph but the point for us today is that when one brags concerning themselves, it is not accepted by others.

We all know people that like to brag about themselves, about their successes, about their riches, about their intelligence and it goes on and on. All of our abilities come from God and He expects us to use the abilities He has given us for His glory. Above all we should not brag about them giving ourselves the glory.

When we are tempted to brag we need to remember the words of the apostle Paul in Romans 11:36: “For from Him and through Him and to Him are all things. To Him be the glory forever.”

LEARNING:

Our memory verse for this week is found in II Timothy 1:7.

For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind.

PRAYER:

May we acknowledge today that all things that we have and all that we are comes from You. Help us, in all that we do and say, give You the glory and thank You for all we have from You.

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Build: July 21, 2015

TODAY’S WORD FOR TUESDAY JULY 21, 2015.

BUILD

DEFINITION:

Construct; increase and strengthen; erect; mold; shape.

SCRIPTURE:

Unless the Lord builds the house, they labor in vain that build it. Psalm 127:1.

KNOWLEDGE AND EXPERIENCE:

We can remember singing in Sunday school the song about the man who built the house on the sand and as a result it could not withstand the storm. The song continued about the wise man who built his house on the rock and it stood firm in the storm because it was built on a solid foundation.

This song came from a portion of the Sermon on the Mount where Jesus preached to the multitudes (Matthew 7:24-27). Jesus was giving a warning to those who profess to belong to God but have no relationship with Him.

First, Jesus said that whoever hears His words and does them will be like the wise man who built his house upon the rock. The rock is Christ Jesus. Just like the house standing firm in a storm, when the storms of life come and the winds beat against a person who builds his house (life) on the solid foundation of Christ, he will be able to stand through the storms of life. It is obedience to God’s Word that provides the solid foundation needed to endure the trials and temptations of life that bring our life crashing down.

The question now comes to you. On what are you building your life? Do you have a foundation built on the rock, Jesus Christ? If not then when the storms of life come your house will fall and Jesus says in this passage, “AND GREAT WAS THE FALL.”

In Psalms 127:1, the psalmist warns us that unless we allow the Lord to build our house, our life, we are laboring in vain. If we leave the Lord out of our life, all of our accomplishments will be futile. No matter how hard we work to accomplish great things we need to remember, only what is done for the Lord will last.

LEARNING:

Our memory verse for this week is found in II Timothy 1:7.

For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind.

PRAYER:

Encourage me and my family to build our lives on the precepts and commandments that You have given us in Your Word. Help me to be a doer of the Word and not a hearer only.

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Boastful: July 20, 2015

TODAY’S WORD FOR MONDAY JULY 20, 2015.

BOASTFUL

DEFINITION:

To speak with exaggeration and excessive pride about oneself; to brag about oneself.

SCRIPTURE:

In God we boast all day long, and praise Your name forever. Psalm 44:8.

This is what the Lord says: Don’t let the wise boast in their wisdom, or the powerful boast in their power, or the rich boast in their riches. For those who wish to boast should boast in this alone: that they truly know Me and understand that I am Lord. Jeremiah 9:23.

KNOWLEDGE AND EXPERIENCE:

We all could share many experiences we have had with people who were boastful. Some are very boastful as to how good they handle their job. Some parents are boastful as to how they handle their children. Even pastors can be boastful as to their leadership and the status of the church they minister in. It is human nature to want to boast about ourselves.

Children love to brag. As parents one has the responsibility to curb that boastfulness when it begins early in a child’s life.

How many rich people have you seen that flaunt their riches, or a powerful person brag about their power and an educated person boast of their knowledge. Boasting will give a person a boost to their ego but boasting is not a positive trait. Boasting tends to drive a wedge in relationships.

The scripture tells us in Jeremiah 9:23 that we are not to boast upon ourselves and what we have done. There is only one thing anyone can have that is worth boasting about and that is that we know God and understand that He is God.

People put a lot of value in riches, power, wisdom, knowledge, social status and appearance and boast about these things often. But they are only things that can be taken away from one at any time. God does not put value on the things just mentioned but He does put great value on our relationship to Him.

Wisdom and accomplishments do not get us into God’s kingdom. Power, fame, riches, skill and intelligence are nothing to boast about in God’s sight. None of these will secure eternal life. Salvation is totally from God through the sacrificial death of His Son Jesus.

In I Corinthians 1:31 Paul repeats Jeremiahs admonition: “Let him who boasts boast in the Lord.”

The opposite of a boasting person is a humble person. Humble people do not boast about themselves. They recognize that boasting is merely self-condemnation.

In II Corinthians we are again reminded by Paul: “Let him who boasts, boast in the Lord. For it is not the one that commends himself who is approved but the one whom the Lord commends.”

LEARNING:

Our memory verse for this week is found in II Timothy 1:7.

For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind.

PRAYER:

Give me a spirit of humility as I touch the lives of my family and peers today. Thank You that I can boast in the Lord because of what You have done for me when You died to give me salvation and an eternal home with You in heaven.

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